Yikes, my 72 Challenger was tough to stop because it had manual brakes with self adjusters.
However, it did stop. The pedal was just high and hard with little feel compared to the regular power brake cars I usually drove.
I am going to bleed but first I am going to see what adjusting my power...
Steve340, thanks, what makes the drums look rough to you? I figure the resto shop that did my car took care of the drums when they redid the rear brakes but perhaps they just took a look and decided to use then as is. I can post better pics.
Also, I need to bleed my MC and the lines again...
No problem, I appreciate the input!
At least the rear brake hardware is correct now. Getting the rear brakes adjusted is sort of driving me nuts though as I don't yet have the experience to "feel" the light drag the FSM calls for during adjustment. With the sure-grip rear end, the wheels...
I corrected the rear brake on the driver side per your recommendation above.
I got rid of that silver spring and put the large end of the green spring in the hole in the front shoe that the silver spring used, and put the other end in the large hole in the rear shoe. I checked it against the...
Thanks, will do. Does it matter whether the green spring on one side of the car is thicker than the other? This driver side spring seems heavier. I did not compare them side by side though.
Also, the parking brake cables are loosened to allow for rear brake adjustment. I plan to tighten the...
OK, thanks both of you for the quick replies.
There must be some variance in the number of holes in different replacement brake shoe sets. These are new shoes but I don't know who made them.
Passenger side -
To match Katfish's brake, which appears to be the driver side, I would have to...
Here are a pair of photos of the lower section of the driver rear drum and passenger rear drum.
I compared them and figured out that the passenger set up is the same as my manual and other photos I found. I believe the green spring is the automatic adjuster spring and it fits into the holes in...
The thread I referred to above was started by Enforcer505 in August 2025. But his problem was overheating his brakes; apparently backing his brake switch off a tad helped.
So at this point I believe I need to bleed the MC, which I intend to do with it still mounted (per that Richard Eherenberg...
Xcudame,
Thanks - after researching quite a bit over the weekend, I tend to agree.
My car has the clutch and brake pedals from my old 72, manual all-drum car.
I bought a power master cylinder years ago for a disk brake swap that never happened, because the 73 I bought had a much better body...
Thanks! Good info, starting with the MC cover. My thought would be just taking the cover off could let in air but working on a MC is new to me.
I will pull up on the brake pedal and see whether it moves tomorrow.
I am not sure how long the MC push rod is, or if it is adjustable. I really...
Here is an update.
First, this week I was certainly able to turn the rear wheels in neutral with them off the ground, rear axle on jack stands. I had the parking brake adjusted loose and I rotated the adjusting wheel back around 35 - 40 clicks to start. I then took the drums on and off the...
Thanks, I think you just nailed the situation I have - my car has a sure grip rear end also. Therefore it will not turn easily - no matter how loose the brakes are. My thought is that this creates an incorrect impression that the brakes are making it difficult to spin the wheels by hand when it...
Challenger RTA, I understand on the E-Brake - really a parking brake. I have that loosened up a lot. Cables are new so no corrosion on the adjustor.
Once I bleed the brakes I will adjust again, and see what happens. The wheel cylinders are new so hopefully they aren't sticking. I am not...
Thanks Ricks72Chlgr440; I can still back the rears off more, but I already did so quite a bit. They are not as tight as they were initially but they grip and won't spin with light dragging. I am not sure how far I can back off but apparently it would be quite a bit more. I will adjust after I...
Thanks MILOJ; this car had the disk brakes stock. I am not sure if it had power brakes when made as the original fenders and fender tag were missing. I think I will know more when I get the brakes bled. There was a very minor leak, and the MC was 1 inch down. That did not help.
Here are photos of the passenger side drum.
I loosened up each drum about 30 clicks. When I remounted the wheels, they are definitely not as tight as they were before. However, I can't give the tire a hard twist and watch it spin freely.
Each side slows down quickly.
Not having worked on...
Happy 4th of July everyone. I am just following up.
It took some time to get one of the drums off, but I have now inspected all four wheels and I found no leaks beyond the passenger side caliper. I peeled back the rubber covers on both wheel cylinders in back, on each end. No leaks.
I saw...